History
Shimanoseki Station opened on 1 March 1913 as a stop on the Otsu Electric Tramway between the original Otsu Station (now Biwako Hamaotsu) and Zeze. Successive corporate mergers transferred it to Biwako Tetsudo-Kisen in 1927, Keihan in 1929, Keihanshin-Kyuko (today's Hankyu) in 1943, and finally back to Keihan in 1949. The route became part of the Ishiyama Sakamoto Line in 1936. The station was relocated in 1966 and has been served by tram-style two-car trains ever since; it sits beside Lake Biwa and remains unstaffed today.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Notes
When the original tramway opened in 1913, the section through Shimanoseki shared a three-rail gauge with a Tokaido Main Line freight branch, an arrangement that persisted until the freight branch was abolished in November 1969.